Fearsome Iron (Stubbing when SCS stubs.)

Amber Erid sat in her lab and looked at the satellite pictures from Angle City. It looked like someone had given a toddler a marker then told them to draw on a map of the city. Where the toddler drew the city was destroyed. Amber had drawn up plans from the city ending up in a crater to a couple buildings being destroyed in the fight. Plan D4B would work with a little bit of tweaking.

The scent of burnt computer parts still hung in the air. At the end of the sequential teleportation some of the server racks had started smoking. Amber could hear the hum of her pinters behind her printing out replacement parts. It would be two weeks before Amber's teleportation capabilities were back to full and she could return to her work as Owl.

Amber set her hand on her desk and pushed away, standing up. She turned and headed for the anomalous stone she had taken to collecting, passing by a case that held the suit of armor she wore as Owl. two hours and thirty two minutes until it was clean, the reactor was rebuilt, and the nanoforge belt was reloaded. Time until it was wearable again, three hours give or take ten minutes.

The ground split open ahead of Amber and another computer rose out of it. The monitors showed the signal it was sending out was still being blocked. Amber had set the computers to keep scanning the face of it and to try to break down the language written on it. It was at about ninety percent completion. Every time the lexicon updated she downloaded it into a backup, stored on the crystal matrix of her suit.

The hissing slide of a door opened let Amber know someone had entered her lab. She turned and saw a blonde woman, almost as tall as Amber herself. She had on a full overall suit and had a tablet hanging off a strap. A dimensional fallen, someone who had slipped through dimensions, Amber had fished her out of the ocean almost two months ago. Amber had given her the tablet to help her learn her history and given her a job. “Did she do it?” Victoria asked.

Amber nodded at her then waved her hand to the satellite images, “within expectations. You never explained to me why you are afraid of her.”

Not that Amber could blame her. Amber's plan if Suneya went off the rails was to teleport her into the middle of space while stealing all her momentum. She wasn't sure if it would stop her but it would at least slow her down.

Victoria sat down on a stool near a lab table, “I know you two are super heroes and everything but I read more of The Grandmasters comics than The Owls. She can be vicious when she needs to be. How is your search for Liberty Prime?”

Victoria came from a universe where everything that happened here was from the comic books she read in her free time. Liberty Prime was supposed to be someone with flight, super strength, invulnerability, super speed, laser eyes, and the only person durable enough to fight The Grandmaster, Suneya, to a standstill. Has Amber found Liberty Prime? From the simple tests Amber had run, Liberty Prime was sitting on a stool in her lab, “I am still searching.”

If Amber had her way Victoria would never have to find out. Plan C34M was still in play. As long as Owl was not off planet for more than a week the planet would be fine. It would continue spinning and the contingencies she had set up would keep it that way. Victoria would never have to step out and learn she was bullet proof as long as the plan continued. Victoria was a janitor at a science lab. The tablet Owl had given her would help her learn everything she needed in case Victoria put on the cowl. The longer she stayed learning from the tablet and cleaned up around Ambers lab the better the outcome it would be when she did.

Victoria sighed and looked down at the table away from Amber's eyes, “This might be one of the darker dimensions then.”

Amber had met a few of her dimensional duplicated sisters at the Council of Owls from a negative dimensional resonance area. This was not one of those dimensions. The only difference she could see between them and her was how long their childhood dogs lived. If the dog was hit by a car or something when growing up there was a good chance they lived in a negative dimension. Amber's dog, Joe Bear, had passed away at the age of seventeen sleeping next to her in bed. “We do not live in a negative dimension.”

Victoria turned back and met Amber's eyes before she started ringing her hands, “Are you sure? I’ve seen some things in this world's history that are pretty screwed up.”

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Amber gave her a slow nod then walked over and leaned against the table, relaxing her body language which helped calm down Victoria, “I have measurements. I know we are not in a negative dimension. You are safe here.”

Victoria let out a sigh, “Sorry. This place still stresses me out when I look at the news.”

Amber could understand that. Victoria had rarely talked about the dimension she came from but from what Amber had heard she could make a few estimates. No enhanced, maybe a few wars over resources. Novel things, not some lady getting angry at you and deciding to spit acid or something like it at you. Amber had that happen to her once when she first started going out as Owl and now all her Owl armor came with a special outer polymer layer that was resistant to such things.

Doctor John Roman Kathor was an experienced man when it came to spiritual taint. He fought in one of the great wars and helped with the clean up. That much death in such a small area on the planet did things spiritually. He fought more revenants than he did humans during the war.

There was a small barrier the planet had. Completely natural, studies have shown it's a part of the planet's immune system. That much death weakened the barrier and spirits of death war and blood has snuck in from other planes. It took years to clean up and there was still the random spirit that showed up randomly at the places where trenches were dug.

The taint of Angle City was something that was constant. It was there before he was born. It was still there when he got his doctorate and joined the elite group of people that fought off the constant spiritual assault the planet was under. He figured he would die with it still there.

Doctor Kathor was standing in one of the sanctums closer to Angle City. This particular one was one that constantly monitored the tainted city. The monitor room he was standing in was circular. It had three different pictures of the city made with illusion magic tied to an enchantment.

One of them showed the city in all its glory. Suneya had done work on the city. Excessive but she was effective. John hadn't seen such destruction since the war. It looked like someone pounded the city with artillery after an air bombing campaign. Returning the city back to any working order was going to take some time.

The second showed the lay lines below the city. They stretched out in an unorganized spider web. Blackened from the taint. When Suneya was fighting the thing it started pulling on the mana in them to survive. It was going to be quite a long time before they were full again. Magic in that area would be weakened for years to come.

The third was the most interesting. It caused all the enchanted printers in the room to run hot. Apprentices were running around adjusting the enchantments and refilling them with paper. It monitored the barrier surrounding Angle City trying to catch spirits slipping through the veil. “The excess chi she gave off patched and thickened the veil” ,Doctor Zeglier spoke from where she was reading papers handed to her by an apprentice.

“Some of the temples and places where chi practitioners work have some of the thickest barriers. Swivel City, just from Grandmaster Suneya breathing in it, jumped the scale quite a bit.” John pointed out.

“Why are there not many chi practitioners then? Shouldn't we be promoting that kind of things?” An apprentice asked.

Doctor Zeglier shook her head but continued to study the papers, “They tend to kill each other. We have tried helping them a few times, I was there for the last attempt. They mumbled something about fighting spirit and went on to continue their ways.”

John nodded at that. Damn meat heads. Suneya didn't come off as that at least.

The alarm went off and Victor slapped it quiet. He uncovered himself then rolled out of bed. Raising his hands above his head he leaned back and stretched his spine, chest and started his warm up. He leaned down and bent far enough that his forehead touched his shins.

Morning stretches had been a part of Victor's life as long as he could remember. He can remember getting up in the morning when he was little and doing them with Jacob with their father guiding them along. His dad taught him a lot when he was young and still sprouting.

His first lesson from his father was the one that Victor learned the best. His father had brought him out into the back yard and knelt in front of Victor. He grabbed Victor's wrist and curled Victor's index finger in, “You start with the index finger, then the middle, and so on. When all your fingers are curled in you bring your thumb in to hold them down. Squeeze hard, it locks your wrist.”

Victor took that lesson and ran with it. Very few people taught him as much about fighting that his father. He could count them on one hand, most of them were people he had fought. Fighting was in his blood, he breathed it and it led him to where he was today.

Victor stepped out of the bathroom and headed to the kitchen. A cup of rice in the rice cooker and a pre prepped burrito in the microwave. When the rice was done he threw it into a small bowl and ate it with a sprinkle of salt. The burrito he threw into a fanny pack he had taken to wearing.

Stepping outside he reached down and redid the laces on his shoes before stepping out onto the road and running to the dojo. He could feel the warmth in his stomach, his chi. He had more than he had yesterday. Sensei had told him he was a perfect student, whatever that meant. She mostly just beat on him until he figured out how to get her to stop, normally at the end of the day when he was dead tired and wanting to sleep on the ground at his feet.

Victor learned more from Sensei in the few months she had started training him than everyone but his father. It felt like his father set the foundation and Sensei was building on top of it. He wasnt sure what to think about that, if his grandfather wasn't murdered would he be further along or would he be dead too?

Victor slowed his run as he approached the dojo. He turned and walked through the gravel lot to the back door. The back door had a wedge at the bottom so he pulled it open and entered the dojo. Victor reached into his fanny pack and pulled out his burrito while walking into the office. Jacob was there paperwork. Victor leaned out and checked the main food of the dojo before looking back at Jacob, “Where is Sensei?”

“She called in. said she was about twenty hours from here so shes gonna be missing for a few days. Jacob replied without looking up from the paper work he was doing.

Victor looked down at the burrito in his hand and started unwrapping it. A small part of him was disappointed he wouldn't be able to learn more but the rest of him was exhilarated that he wouldn't be getting his daily dose of dirt from training with her.

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